About development contributions

New residential and commercial developments make demands on the City's resources and services such as the transport network, water supply and parks.

A development contribution is a charge on new developments that will use capacity in the Council's facilities and infrastructure.

About development contributions

Development contributions of cash or sometimes land help fund the facilities and infrastructure that the Council provides to cater for growth.

Using development contributions to fund a fair share of the costs of providing additional facilities and infrastructure to cater for growth means current ratepayers are not burdened with the full cost. it also means the Council can plan for and build the right infrastructure at the right time to support the City's growth.

What development contributions help fund

Christchurch City Council uses development contributions to help pay for infrastructure assets that provide growth capacity for the following activities.

Reserves

Regional parks

Garden and heritage parks

Sports parks

Neighbourhood parks

Network Infrastructure

Water supply

Wastewater collection

Wastewater treatment and disposal

Stormwater and flood protection

Road network

Active travel

Public transport infrastructure

Assessing for development contributions

Development contributions can only be used to fund the growth-related part of a capital project and not for improved levels of service, or maintenance and renewal costs.

The amount of contribution required depends on the property location and how many household unit equivalents (HUEs) of demand the development will add to infrastructure and facilities. One HUE equals the requirements for a typical residential home.

Contributions are also levied on commercial developments that make new demands on council infrastructure and facilities. Calculating their demand is more complex, and takes into account floor area, the type of business and location. These developments are assessed on a case-by-case.

In the case of a commercial subdivision, the Council will assess the development contribution requirement as being one household unit equivalent per additional lot at the time of subdivision. When a subsequent application for resource consent or building consent is made to further develop the site a full assessment will be made based on the nature of the final development. It is likely the project developer will be required to provide further development contributions at this time.

Catchments

The cost of supplying facilities and infrastructure to cater for growth can vary for different areas of the city. To reflect this, development contributions for some activities are assessed based on the catchment or area of the city where the development is located.

The Council uses catchments to assign contributions for neighbourhood parks, stormwater and flood protection, and the road network.

Development contributions rebates

The Council has introduced four rebate schemes for development contributions. These apply to:

Residential developments in the Christchurch Central City area - within the 4 avenues

Non-residential (business) developments in the Central City Business Zone

Residential developments for stand-alone homes with a floor area less than 60m2